RAIN Aug./Sept. 1980 PERMANANCE CONT. 7 NORMAL CITY STREET L •LJ~ m TRANSITION STAGE Bio-dynamic/Frer,ch Intensive (BFI) gardening took a beating in our workshops. Sometimes referred to as "French Expensive" or "French Pretentious" (I privately called it Bio-maniacal) it was perhaps the most structured and manipulated system looked at,-but also practiced, at one time or another, by most of the people in attendance. One can't wholly criticize BFI, throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, because there is much to be learned and much to be gained from aspects of it. Still a cool evaluation is in order, and Michael Stusser, horticulturist at Farallones Rural Center and former co-gardener with Alan Chadwick (The acknowledged synthesizer of BFI), has given us just that. Michael's been working the land at the Rural Center for all of its five years. Most of his work has been with BFI and the modified version of it he's evolved over time. His comments are excerpted from the Farailones 1980 Annual Report-On Growth and Form. The report is a gift to members of the Institute. Memberships cost $10/students, $25/ associate members. Write them for more information. The Integral - ___J~:::J.11aa.tJtl!llh!t!i - _· ·. . ....--.-...... -.i::.~-L....... ___...__.L..&,__ CU er bn at enr ,H1o5u2s9e0, 1C5o1l 6e mF ai fnt hVSatlrl ee ey t ,RBo aedr k, eOl ecyc,i dCeAn t a9l4, 7C1 0A- , 9o5r4T6 h5 .e R u r a l Michael's references to a II good composting program" can be <IJ followed up on in two very useful articles. The AERO Sun-Times ·a for "late May/early June" carried an excellent overview. The arti- ~ de, All About Composting, is from their fact sheets and is probably -5 available separate from the magazine itself. Write them at AERO, < -----. 424 Stapleton Building, Billings, MT 59101. (By the way, the Sun- ~ Times is also feeling the crunch these days so send money with ~ Espalier MA.,TURE URABAN AGRICULTURE your request.) The other article is for real bug lovers..lt's an August -:S ;~[;;;\;:~:;· 1980 National Geographic spread on the micro-biological interac0 and ,hoots ' · tions in compost, replete with glossy color enlargements of very "; tiny critters. Beautiful and informative like every issue of the Na- ~ • tional Geographic. Vol. 158, No. 2, $1.45, $13/yr from the Na- ~-----1:::::::::Jallilas:!ll.,....,_""·"' • . ·.. -. •. _. ~-,----.~...:.._.J...1111 tional Geographic Society, 17th and M Street N. W., Washington, 6 Ve1etable StrHt Gardens Wi ndbreak D.C. 20036. -CC P Gard•r.!i Insul ation -t: _______• ----------------------------------------------- access The Journal of the New Alchemists #6, edited by Nancy Jack Todd, 1980, $9.95 paper, from: The Stephen Greene Press Fessenden Road at Indian Flat P.O. Box 1000 Brattleboro, VT 05301 Still doing some of the most exciting work with permanence in mind, the alchemists have entered their tenth year and have a lot to share with us. Most relevant to permanent agriculture in this volume is Earle Barnhart's piece on Tree Crops. Like Mollison, Earle includes a valuable resource list and credits the people whose work predicates his own. "The concept of using perennial plants, particularly trees, to produce human food and animal feeds while they protect the soil has been proposed by historians of agriculture like F.H. King, geographers of soil erosion like J. R. Smith, and economists to whom people matter, like E.F. Schumacher. A landscape of perennials is the method nature has evolved for soil protection for most of the biogeographical regions of the earth that are now farmed." Urban applications of the dream of edible landscapes are explored and there is more specific information on propagation of tree crops and how to obtain native foodplant stock. -CC Permaculture I & II, 1978, 79, by Bill Mollison, are available in Australia, .but #II is distributed here in the states, at $10.95/copy (40% off on 10 or more for distributors) by: Tagari Publications P.O. Box888 Winters, CA 95695 The two Mollison Permaculture books are excellent resources for students of a permanent way of gardening. The books stress the design and ordering of plants interacting within specific contexts. For example there are schemes for arid lands, for tropics and for beaches. There are models for plants and animals sharing spaces. The goal i~ diversity and interdependence, synergy within ecosystems. The texts are clarified with illustrations, references and annotated bibliographies. Like BFI, Peimaculture is not a new concept but rather a synthesis of several approaches and influences. Credit is paid where credit is due, with kudos to Ruth Stout for developing the "sheet compost method" expediting the garden preparation process, and Masanobu Fukuoka of The One Straw Revolution (RAIN Vol. IV: #10) for streamlining the whole endeavor even further and stretching minimal energy agriculture to encompass grain growing. In addressing the design of agriculture systems and habitation systems Mollison makes clear his own bias; "it is essential that new buildings are so constructed as to supply their own heat and at least some food." The shelters he briefly describes are in most cases very minimal. Their surroundings, however, are elaborate, beautiful and incredibly diverse; all describing "an integrated evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man [sic]." -CC There will be an American reprinting of #1 this fall which will also be distributed by Tagari. We'll keep you posted.
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